The Lightkeeper's Bride (2 page)

The pirates shoved men overboard, and he heard cries of pain. He clenched empty fists. No weapon. Still, he might be able to save some of the men thrown overboard. Shoving the boat into the water, he put his back into rowing, but the tide was coming in and the waves fought him at every stroke.

He paused to get his bearings and realized the ship was moving away. The smaller boat, attached by a rope, bobbed after it. Something whizzed by his head and he ducked instinctively. A hole appeared in the side of the boat behind him. The pirates were firing on him. His hands dropped from the oars when he saw several bodies bobbing in the whitecaps. Men were already drowned.

The wind billowed the sails and he knew he had no chance of intercepting the ship. But he could save the men that he could reach, then inform the authorities of what he’d seen. He grasped the oars and rowed for all he was worth.

At 3:03 a light came on and Katie answered. “Number, please.” The caller, a man whose voice she didn’t recognize, sounded breathless.

“Is this the operator?”

She detected agitation in his tone. “It is. Is something wrong?”

“Pirates,” he said in a clipped voice. “Just off the lighthouse. They shot some sailors and dumped others overboard.”

She sprang to her feet. “I’ll contact the constable. Do you need further assistance?”

“I need a doctor at the lighthouse. I’ve got two injured men. The rest are—dead. I couldn’t get their bodies into the boat, but they’re washing up onshore now.” His taut voice broke. “I had to leave the men on the shore to get to a phone, but I’m heading back there now.

Tell the doctor to hurry.”

“Right away,” she promised. She disconnected the call and rang the doctor first. Saving life was paramount. The constable would be too late to do much about the pirates. With both calls dispatched, she forced herself to sit back down, though her muscles twitched with the need for activity. She reminded herself she’d done all she could.

The switchboard lit again. “Operator,” she said, eyeing the light.

The call originated from the bank.

“R-10, please.”

She plugged in the other end of the cord to ring the Cook residence.

Instead, she heard Eliza Bulmer pick up the phone on the other end. “I’m sorry, Eliza, we seem to have a switched link somewhere. Would you hang on until I can get through to the Cooks?” Katie asked.

“Of course, honey,” Eliza said. “I just picked up my wedding dress, and I’m trying it on. So if I don’t say much, you’ll know why.”

“You’re getting married? I hadn’t heard. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Eliza’s voice held a lilt.

“Just leave the earpiece dangling, if you please.”

“I can do that.”

There was a
thunk
in Katie’s ear, and she knew Eliza had dropped the earpiece. Katie waited to see if the ring would be answered at the Cook residence but there was only a long pause. “There’s no answer, Eliza. You can hang up,” she said.

The other woman did not reply. If the phone were left off the hook, it would go dead. Katie started to raise her voice, but she heard a man’s voice.

“You said you had something to tell me. What is it? I need to get home.”

The voice was familiar, but Katie couldn’t quite place it. It was too muffled.

“Honey, thank you for coming so quickly,” Eliza said.

Though Eliza’s voice was faint, Katie thought she detected a tremble in it.
This is none of my business
, she thought.
I should hang up
. But she held her breath and listened anyway.

“Would you like tea?” Eliza asked.

“No, Eliza, I don’t want tea. What are you doing in that getup? I want to know what was so all-fired important that you called me at work—something I’ve expressly forbidden you to do.”

Katie’s stomach lurched as she tried to place the voice. Identification hovered at the edge of her mind.
Who is that?

“Very well. I shall just blurt it out then. I’m out of money and I must have some to care for my daughter. I need money today or . . .”

“I won’t be blackmailed,” the man snapped.

A wave of heat swept Katie’s face. She heard a door slam, then weeping from Eliza. She wanted to comfort the sobbing young woman.

Numb, Katie sat listening to the sobs on the line.

The door slammed again. “Who’s there?” Eliza asked in a quavering voice. She gasped, then uttered a noise between a squeak and a cry.

Katie heard a thud, and then the door slammed again. “Eliza?” she whispered. A hiss, like air escaping from a tire, came to her ears. “Are you all right?”

Only silence answered her.

She jerked the cord from the switchboard and broke the connection. Unease twisted her belly. She’d already dispatched the constable to the lighthouse. But what if Eliza was in trouble? Her fingers trembled so much she had trouble slipping the jack back into the switchboard. She muffled her mouthpiece with her hand and asked Nell to come back early. She had to make sure Eliza was all right.

T
WO

W
ILL WATCHED THE
physician minister to the two men on the parlor floor. “Will they live?”

The doctor nodded. “The bullets missed anything vital, but they lost a lot of blood. This fellow has a concussion.” He indicated the younger man, who was still unconscious. “He nearly drowned, but I think he’ll be all right.”

The older man groaned and rolled over before vomiting seawater onto the carpet. Will rushed for a cloth and mopped up the mess.
Poor fellow
. He glanced out the window and saw the constable walking toward the lighthouse. “Excuse me a moment, Doctor.”

The lawman was on the porch by the time Will exited the house. “Find anything?” Will asked.

Constable Brown shook his head. “No sign of the pirates. Before I came out I called the towns up and down the coast and told them to be on the lookout for the ship. So far, five bodies have washed ashore here. Terrible thing.” He nodded toward the door. “Are these men able to answer questions?”

Will shook his head. “They’re still barely conscious.”

“I’ll check in on them at the hospital tomorrow. Now tell me exactly what you saw.”

Will relayed his first sight of the pursuing pirates and the actions he’d taken. “It sailed off to the north,” he said.

“There’s been no piracy in these waters for years. Odd. They were too far away to identify any of them?”

“Much too far.”

“Pity.” The constable turned to go back to his buggy. “Let me know if you remember anything else.”

“Of course.” Will watched him whip his horse into a trot, then noticed a figure walking along the water. He was almost upon the lighthouse. Was that Philip? The man waved and Will waved back then strode down to greet his brother.

They met at the base of the cliff to the beach. Will enveloped him in a hug and pulled back when he smelled whiskey on his breath. He quickly hid his dismay. “You’re the last man I expected to see today.

What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just show up to make sure my big brother is settling well into his new job?” Philip asked, returning the hug, but Will could feel him peering over his shoulder, trying to get a look inside. He was a younger version of Will, right down to the dark curls and even deeper brown eyes, but his build was like their father’s while Will was taller and leaner.

Will studied him. His brown tweed suit must have come from Macy’s. His raven hair fell over his forehead from under his hat.

When had he turned into such a dandy? Will had tried to raise him right, but the lad’s course was far from the one Will would have chosen for him. Becoming a private eye. Their father would roll over in his grave.

Philip started for the lighthouse. “I’m famished. Anything to eat in this place?”

Will pressed his lips together, and his arms dropped to his side.

He fell into step with his brother. “I have a pot of soup on. It should be ready.” He knew better than to ask again why Philip was here.

The man never revealed anything until he was ready.

Philip’s expression turned sulky, and he stared up at the lighthouse.

“When you said you were taking this post, I thought you quite crazy.

Now I’m sure of it. There’s nothing out here.”

“I like it that way.”

Philip rolled his eyes. “You’ll never make a decent living doing this. Join me in my business. You’re observant and astute. You’d be an asset.”

“No thanks. I’ll be able to study the weather without distraction.”

Two horses pulling the ambulance stopped in the road by the lighthouse. Philip stared as two orderlies ran toward the lighthouse. “You rescued the injured sailors?”

Will stopped and turned toward his brother. “You know about this already?”

Philip shrugged. “There was another boat taken about a month ago just north of here. The owner retained me two days ago. He received a tip from a woman here that another ship was in jeopardy. I was heading this way, but see I was too late. Did you watch it happen?”

Trust Philip to be in the right place at the right time. Will finally nodded. “Yes, but I’ve already told the constable all I know.”

Philip’s smile was ingratiating. “So, tell your brother too. Recognize anyone?”

“No. They were too far away. I managed to rescue two sailors they threw overboard, but that was all.” He stopped as the orderlies came out with a stretcher. They slid the injured man into the back of the ambulance, then went back for the other one.

Philip started toward the ambulance, and Will grabbed his arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To question the witness.”

Will restrained him. “You will not. Both those men are too befuddled to talk to you anyway. Let them be.”

Philip tried to shake off Will’s arm, but Will held fast. “You will not take advantage of my position.”

“This has nothing to do with you,” Philip said, raising his voice. His face reddened. “I’m just doing my job.”

Will continued to block his brother. “You can do it tomorrow.”

The orderlies appeared with the other man, and Will restrained Philip until the ambulance clattered away with the doctor’s buggy trailing behind. “Come inside and eat.”

“I want you to take me seriously,” Philip said, his voice rising nearly to a shout. “This is my chance to launch my career in the right way.

When I get enough money, I can buy my own boat, have a nice house.”

“Philip, you have better talents than to spend your life this way.

Digging into the lives of criminals. Consorting with unsavory people.

It’s time to grow up. You’re twenty-two. There’s still time to go back to school. Papa wanted more for you than this.”

Philip waved his hand. “He wanted me to be an engineer. There’s not enough money in that. This is the way to make something of myself. You’re doing what you want. Why shouldn’t I?” He cast a sly glance Will’s way. “I suspect the idea of some solitude to study the coastal weather played a part in your decision to put in for this job.”

There was no getting through to his brother. Will shrugged. “I might manage to put a balloon or two into the atmosphere in my spare time.”

Philip turned to look at the whitecaps rolling in on the tops of the blue waves. “Pretty place to do it.”

Will nodded toward the lighthouse. “You want to see inside?”

“What’s to see? It’s just a lighthouse.”

Will bit his tongue. Philip reluctantly followed him to the sentinel on the cliff. The sound of the waves was a soothing murmur. Seagulls cawed overhead and dived toward the flotsam of seaweed the white foam left behind on the sand. In a few hours he would attempt to light the lens and get that foghorn going.

“I don’t know anything about maintaining a lighthouse,” Will said. He gestured to a wooden bench at the cliff ’s edge. “I’ve arranged for a day’s instruction though. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

“I still can’t believe you put in for this. What’s even more miraculous is that you got it with no experience.”

Will sat on the bench. “The man who interviewed me was intrigued with what I knew about weather and tides. I believe he thought the knowledge might help me here.”

Philip joined him on the bench. “Indeed. So, Will, what did you see?”

He wouldn’t rest until he heard Will’s story. Might as well tell him now. Will pointed to the right of their position, out past a point that jutted into the bay. “The ship was taken right out there.”

“It was for the gold onboard,” Philip said.

Will glanced at him. “How much was it worth?”

“Two hundred thousand dollars.”

He whistled. “It would be heavy then. They’d need buckboards to transport it when they’re ready to take it off the ship.”

Philip nodded. “Or a team of pack animals. So someone here probably had the conveyances ready and waiting to off-load it. Is there any way to a main road without going through town?”

Will shrugged. “I just got here myself. I have no idea of the lay of the land yet.” He glanced at his brother. “What of this female informant?”

Philip hesitated. “I don’t think she’ll talk to me. I hoped you might speak with her.”

Will frowned. “I don’t understand. You
know
her personally?”

His brother turned his face toward the sea. “I’ve met her.”

Will struggled to keep the exasperation from his voice. “When? How?”

His brother hunched his shoulders but didn’t turn to face him. “We had a fling for a while, okay? It’s none of your business.”

Will’s fingers curled into his palms, and he struggled to keep his voice even. “You’re forcing me to make it my business.” The lad was never going to grow up. And why should he when Will was always there?

Philip turned a pleading gaze on Will. “You surely want to see those butchers brought to justice.”

Will’s protest died on his lips. He
did
want to catch the barbarians who had done this. “What do you want me to do?”

“Just go see a woman by the name of Eliza Bulmer. Tell her you’re investigating the taking of the ship and heard she might know something of it. See what she tells you. Ask her what she knows of Albert Russell. She mentioned the man’s involvement.”